The Government has announced it will be freezing benefits for another year in a move which will cost a typical working family around £300 per year.
Caroline Dinenage, a work and pensions minister, said the freeze for working age people will continue even as the state pension and some other benefits increase by three per cent, in line with inflation.
This will be a real terms cut in income of £315 a year for the typical working family with two children as the cost of living will eat further into their income, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.
The freeze, which has been in place since 2015, has coincided with the longest fall in living standards in the past 60 years with the thinktank saying real disposable incomes are now to set to fall for 19 successive quarters.
In a report published before the budget, the foundation warned the freeze would worsen inequality which would take an average of £715 away from the poorest third of households whereas the richest third looks set to gain £185 from other tax breaks.
Some will see the cut partially offset by the increase in minimum wage, which will go up to £7.83 per hour from April, but many will still feel the squeeze as the Treasury hopes to save £1.9bn over the next year.
The news came just twenty minutes after Clarence House announced Prince Harry’s engagement to American actress Meghan Markle.
Many have commented on the disparity between the two stories.
Some even suggested the Government deliberately made the announcement on a day where it was likely to be buried but the policy is already in place and ministers had always planned to make the announcement today.
Stephen Lloyd the Liberal Democrats work and pensions spokesman, told The Guardian: “The Tories seem to be shamelessly using the royal engagement to bury bad news. Millions of hard-pressed families are set to be pushed over the edge into poverty by these cruel cuts.”
Meanwhile Debbie Abrahams, the Shadow work and pensions secretary, said Theresa May had “failed to make good on her promise to help those struggling to get by, at a time when Britain is facing an unprecedented two lost decades of earnings growth”.
“By continuing to freeze working-age benefits when inflation is soaring, the government is subjecting 10.5 million households to an average cut of £450 a year,” she said.
